Brunel the biggest climber in Guardian university league table

Brunel University is the biggest climber of any university in The Guardian University Guide league table for 2013, published on Tuesday 22 May, jumping from 82nd to 44th place in the overall ranking.

The Guardian's league table is intended as a first step to help students thinking about applying for a university course. It is based on measures such as how highly final-year students have rated their university experience, a value-added score, universities' spending per student, staffing ratios, and graduate career prospects.

Brunel's position was determined by improving individual rankings in seven out of the nine indicators used, compared to last year's table.

In the newspaper's accompanying editorial, it was noted that Brunel had also enjoyed "significantly better performance in 10 subjects" this year, contributing to the achievement.

Brunel was ranked first out of 77 institutions for Social Work, up 19 places on last year. Art and Design came second out of 81 institutions. History and History of Art (4th), Anatomy and Physiology (5th), Sports Science (17th), Music (17th) and English (18th) were the other Brunel subjects ranked in the top quartile.

The Vice-Chancellor Professor Chris Jenks said: "I am delighted that Brunel University has gone up by a record 38 positions in The Guardian University Guide league table, moving us back into the top 50 universities and giving us our highest position since 2006. We have improved our performance in relation to the measures of student satisfaction, spend per student, student/staff ratio, and career prospects, and 19 of the 22 subjects ranked last year have improved their position.

“I would like to offer my particular congratulations to Professor Susan Buckingham and her colleagues in the Division of Social Work for their individual outstanding result, and to Paul Turnock and his team in the School of Engineering and the Department of Design, for again confirming that this course is one of the best of its kind in the country."

Brunel University has enjoyed considerable league table success this year, climbing from 50th to 41st in The Complete University Guide. It also rose from 49th to 39th in the 2012 Sunday Times University Guide, and jumped from 308th to 261st in the latest Times Higher Education world university rankings.

"When added to the outstanding 78 place climb that Brunel achieved in the 2011 National Student Satisfaction Survey, The Guardian league table result tops an impressive year for a University that has invested determinedly in improving its academic provision whilst also undergoing a major transformation programme across its campus over the past five years. The combined effect of this is clearly now having the desired effect," Professor Jenks said.